Lance Armstrong confirms Tour of California

Here’s my photo of Lance Armstrong as he walked into the press conference this morning.

At his press conference this morning at the Interbike trade show, Lance Armstrong confirmed that he’ll race in the Tour of California next February in addition to the other races he’s previously mentioned.

When asked “Why Astana? Did you think about a Team Livestrong?” Armstrong answered that he has tremendous loyalty to Astana director Johan Bruyneel and the team bike sponsor, Trek.

Armstrong seemed to be setting himself up in case he doesn’t win the Tour de France when he joked that “20 minutes into Cross Vegas last night I changed my mind about the Tour de France.”

“I’m four years old and I’ve been off the bike four years,” Armstrong continued. “I consider Alberto Contador the best bike rider in the world,” signaling that he might be willing to be Contador’s domestique next year.

Eddie Merckx sat quietly in the front row at the press conference, while Greg LeMond was not quiet at all as LeMond expressed skepticism about even advanced doping controls.

Armstrong said he would race at least the next year. “There’s no contract, no salary, no bonus,” said Armstrong. “I’m not saying this will be in and out in a year, but we’l see how it goes.”

…so what was the mood & "feel" of the conference & yes, we need to know if lemond was being intelligent w/ his remarks or was he just trying to incite ???……c'mon, yakota fritz…give us the in-depth scoop, not just the 'headlines'…

…so what was the mood & "feel" of the conference & yes, we need to know if lemond was being intelligent w/ his remarks or was he just trying to incite ???……c'mon, yakota fritz…give us the in-depth scoop, not just the 'headlines'…